** 2018 Year List So far. **

I like to go out if possible on the first day of January. I did go this year to Dungeness RSPB reserve, and I the weather was quit heavy I most of the time in the hideI was there.Most of the birds was keeping their heads down, in fact my list was poor. I only stayed for about a hour and a half, but I did see one good bird, it was on the island just out in front of the Firth Hide with the Herring Gulls, and that was ** GLAUCOUS GULL **. It took me a while to find it but once I did it was easy to pick out. The only other decent birds seen was male and female GOLDENEYES. The other birds seen was as follows: G/B/B/Gull, Herring Gull, B/H/Gull, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Buzzard, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveller, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Pintail, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen, Blackbird. Robin, it was still raining when I left.
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** HOME ** I also started my home bird list, and to date stands at 19. The best one so far is 2 Pied Wagtail, they seem to be turning up most days. The rest of the species are what I would normally see in the garden, except for one species that turns up every winter and that is the ** JAY **The rest are B/H/Gull, which dropped in to take some food off of the garden, W/Pigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Starling, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, robin, Dunnock, and directly over home was a Herring Gull, if they go over home than I add it to my list.
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** OARE MARSH. ** On 4th January I headed for Oare Marsh to see if I could add a few more to the list, preferably waders. The weather wasn't too bad, just windy. I headed for the hide to see what I could find, I had already seen a few of them when I was at Dungeness, but there was some to add which was mainly waders. The tide just coming in when I arrived so that was just right because it was pushing the birds in and on to the flood. Most of the birds the flew in was Black Tailed Godwit. Another birder and I was able to see 4 Bar Tailed Godwit among them. They was followed by a large flock of Avocet, plus a few Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Grey Plover, A pair of Dabchick was at the far side, and a handful of Brent Geese flew up The Swale. I spent quite a while looking for the Green Winged Teal and the Dowitcher but to no avail, but considering that I haven't spent that much time looking for birds my years total so far stands at 51.